Natalie Bedrossian

Sport med
Coach Kramer
4 September 2016
Lab Report
I.
II.
III.

Title: Pre-participation exam lab

Purpose: To demonstrate skills used in a Pre-participation exam
Background information: to measure the height of a person, you need to make sure that
the back and heels of the person are completely flat against the wall covering the tape
measure. Record the measurement that corresponds exactly to the top of the head.
Furthermore, to get an accurate weight, simply have the athlete stand on the scale and
record the weight in pounds. Then you need to check the pulse. Every heart beat creates a
wave of pressure as blood flows along the arteries. Wherever these arteries are closest to
the surface is where we can feel our pulse. In adults, normal resting heart rate is 60-80
beats per minute. Use your fingers when checking the pulse, but not your thumb because
it has its own heartbeat. First, you need to check radial pulse, the one on the wrist, using
three fingers placing them where the rest creases at the base of the thumb, pressing down
until you feel a pulse. Then, you make a note of the rate, heart beats per minute, and then
you check the strength of the pulse and the regularity. Third, you check the carotid pulse,
pressing two fingers into the hollow between your windpipe and the large muscle in the
neck until you feel a pulse. One must also know how to find blood pressure for the
examination. The materials you need are a blood pressure cuff, inflation bulb that is
twisted all the way to the right, the meter, and the stethoscope with the prongs facing
forward. To start, you make the patient put the right arm on the table and you try to find
the pulse on the brachial artery. You wrap the cuff around the top of the arm, making it
snug. Then you put the head of the stethoscope on the pulse and start squeezing the bulb
until it reaches 200. After, you slowly let air out listening for the first thump and the last
thump, with the first thump over the last thump to find the blood pressure. A normal
blood pressure reading is 120/80. Next, you perform the reflex test which is simply you
use a hammer to determine whether the athlete has a patella tendon reflex. After, you test
the flexibility of your hamstrings, simply lifting one leg up to see if it reaches a 90 degree
angle or more. You also test the flexibility of the athletes shoulder by trying to touch the
fingertips of the hands behind ones back. In addition you check pupillary response.
Simply stated, you check it by PERL and No RAPD. You first check whether the pupils
have the same diameter with light on and off and then when the light is off you check that
each light has a direct response to light. Then you do a streaming light test to make sure
there is no RAPD. The pupil contracts quickly and then relaxes a little. Finally, you do
the visual acuity test. The snellen chart is used to measure clearance of vision at a
distance. The different types are the letter chart, the E chart which is used to test children
and hard of sight people, and the number or picture chart which is used for illiterate
people. The snellen chart is based on metric or imperial system, which is more commonly
used. It traditionally only has the letters C, D, E, F, L, O, P, T, and Z. It is read from 20
feet and most people are able to read the 20 foot line from 20 feet. The weaker number is
put first in the ratio, like 10/20 vision. To test a persons ability, the person is asked to
cover one eye and then read the letters. If the person wears distance glasses, they must
have it on during the test, but not reading glasses. The right eye is tested first. If the

IV.
V.

VI.

person can not see any of the letters, one can test their vision by holding up their fingers
or a large object.
Hypothesis: Students who participate in an athletic activity will have a lower pulse and
blood pressure than those who do not participate in an athletic activity.
Procedure:
a. HAVE ATHLETE STAND WITH BACK AND HEELS AGAINST THE WALL
COVERING THE TAPE MEASURE. RECORD THE MEASUREMENT ON
THE TAPE MEASURE THAT CORRESPONDS TO THE TOP OF THE
ATHLETES HEAD.
b. HAVE ATHLETE STAND ON THE SCALE. RECORD WEIGHT (LBS.)
c. PLACE YOUR 1ST,2ND AND 3RD FINGERS ON THE ATHLETES RADIAL
ARTERY. FEEL THE PULSE. COUNT THE NUMBER OF BEATS FOR 30
SECONDS. MULTIPLY THAT NUMBER BY 2 TO COMPUTE BEATS PER
MINUTE (bpm).
d. HAVE THE ATHLETE SIT COMFORTABLY RESTING THE LEFT ARM ON A
DESK. USE THE SPHYGNOMOMETER AND STETHESCOPE. RECORD
BLOOD PRESSURE RESULTS (SYSTOLIC/DIASTOLIC)
e. HAVE THE ATHLETE SIT WITH KNEES BENT OVER THE EDGE OF THE
TABLE. USING THE REFLEX HAMMER, TAP THE PATELLAR TENDON.
RECORD YOUR OBSERVATIONS (+ IF THE KNEE EXTENDS, - IF THE
KNEE DOES NOT EXTEND)
f. HAVE THE ATHLETE LIE SUPINE. ASK HIM/HER TO PERFORM A
STRAIGHT LEG RAISE WITH THE RIGHT LEG WHILE THE LEFT LEG
STAYS ON THE GROUND. RECORD OBSERVATIONS. REPEAT WITH
THE LEFT LEG. (+ IF THE LEG RAISE IS 90 DEGREES ABOVE THE
FLOOR OR MORE, - IF LESS THAN 90 DEGREES)
g. To test your left shoulder flexibility, stand and raise your right arm straight up
overhead. Bend your right elbow and let your right palm rest on the back of your
neck and slide it down your back and between your shoulder blades. Reach
behind you with your left hand so the back of your hand rests on the middle of
your back. Now slide your right hand down and your left hand up to try to touch
the fingers of both hands. Measure the minimum distance between the fingertips
of the right and left hand. Record any overlap as well. Switch your hands to
perform the test on the opposite shoulder.
h. Stand at the twenty foot line and cover your left eye, so you can only see out of
your right eye. Starting from the top, read each row from left to right for as far
down as you can still make out the letters. Note the last line on which you could
correctly identify every letter. Have an assistant verify that you are reading the
letters correctly. Redo for left side. Take note of the fraction shown to the left of
each row: It identifies how your vision rates.
i. HAVE THE ATHLETE CLOSE BOTH EYES. HOLD A PENLIGHT 4-6
INCHES FROM THE ATHLETES RIGHT EYE. ASK THE ATHLETE TO
OPEN ONLY THE RIGHT EYE. OBSERVE THE MOVEMENT OF THE
PUPIL. REPEAT THE PROCEDURE WITH THE LEFT EYE. RECORD
YOUR OBSERVATIONS.
Data

Test
Height

#1
Paige
55 ft

#2
Lazlo
60 ft

#3
Natalie
59 ft

#4
Emily
57 ft

Weight

N/a

161 lbs

N/a

Pulse

90

82

84

126.8
lbs
96

Blood pressure

130/102

120/80

130/60

90/60

Reflex

++

++

++

++

Flexibility:
++
++
__
++
Hamstrings
Flexibility:
Held
Held
Fingers Held
Shoulders
hands
hands
touched hands
Pupil
Got
Got
Got
Got
Response
smaller
smaller
smaller
smaller
Visual
20/50
20/15
20/15 r
20/15
Activity
Both
Both
20/20 l
Both
VII.
Analysis:
1) Yes, everyone's pulse rate was within normal range, because the normal range is 60100 beats and our groups range was from 82-96.
2) No, everyone had ideal blood pressure except for Paige, who may have high blood
pressure, because her bottom number is 102, which is more than the ideal number 90.
3) Yes, within my group everyone had a normal range for their reflexes, because
everyone's legs kicked up when their patella tendon was hit.
4) Yes, everyone's pupillary response within my group was within normal range,
because when the light hit everyone's pupils they got smaller.
5) No, everyone's visual acuity within my group wasn't within normal range, because
Paiges vision was 20/50 indicating mild vision loss.
6) No, everyone's flexibility range was not within normal range because I was unable to
get my legs higher than 45 degrees, but the rest were all able to pass the test.
However, everyone passed for shoulder flexibility, because all of our hands touched
the other.
VIII.
Conclusion
The data collected by the lab both supports and doesn't support the hypothesis. The
hypothesis states that someone who is more active would have lower blood pressure and
pulse, but only one of these were found to be true. Emily, Lazlo, and me are all active,
while Paige is not. In the blood pressure evaluation it was found that the three members
who were active did have lower blood pressure, while Paige may suffer from high blood
pressure because her bottom number is 102, 12 more than the optimal number. However,
when measuring the pulse, Emily's was higher than everyone's, including Paige's at 96,
but at the same time mine was the lowest and I am very active. But, our data could have
very easily been wrong, because of experimental errors. We could have miscounted the
beats, not have heard the first beat when listening during the blood pressure test or even

the last beat, and we could have multiplied wrong for the pulse. Furthermore, I also
learned from this lab how important a pre participation exam is for someone who is going
to start an exercise program or participate in an athletic activity, because it gather
important information to keep the athlete healthy. By knowing whether the athlete has
high or low blood pressure, bad eyesight or pupillary response, or lack of flexibility and
reflexes can ensure the athletes safety and if the athlete gets injured can provide the
physician with much needed information.